Dutch phenom Nieky Holzken continues to dominate kickboxing’s
welterweight division and he did so again on Friday night at the
1stBank Center in Broomfield, Col. Holzken was the better man
against rival Murthel Groenhart via unanimous decision to retain
the Glory welterweight title in the main event of Glory 34
(online betting), which was streamed live on ESPN3.

Holzken was faster and the more accurate striker of the two and he
picked Groenhart apart in spots. It was the third time “That
Natural” had bested his rival and he did so by earning the nod via
tallies of 48-47 (thrice), though the fight was not a walk in the
park. Groenhart took the fight to the champ from the start but his
aggression wasn’t quite as sharp as Holzken’s own attacks and
counters, making the fight closer than the scores indicated, though
Holzken clearly won.

In the co-featured bout, former middleweight champ Simon Marcus got
the better of Dustin
Jacoby for the second time, but the fight ended just as it was
heating up. Jacoby blocked a kick from the Canadian in the opening
frame and the blow snapped his forearm. In between rounds one and
two, the ringside doctors and referee decided Jacoby couldn’t
continue and halted the bout just as the second began, giving
Marcus the TKO win.

Israel
Adesanya had to dig deep to eke past Yousmi Belgaroui via split
decision in the final of the four-man one-night middleweight
contender tournament. Adesanya won via tallies of 30-27, 28-29,
29-28) to earn a crack at Jason Wilnis in the coming months.
Adesanya dominated Robert
Thomas via unanimous decision in the opening round while
Belgaroui did the same to Ariel
Machado to get to the finals.

On the Glory 34 SuperFight Series that was streamed live on UFC
Fight Pass, former Glory lightweight champion Robin
Van Roosmalen tore apart Gabriel Varga in the featured bout to
capture the promotion’s featherweight title. Van Roosmalen rocked
the champ several times in the contest and dominated him from the
start. The punishment became too severe that Varga’s corner
eventually threw the towel in, ending the mugging officially at
3:00 of the fourth.